Against the backdrop of Saturday’s release of 82 Chibok girls as announced by the presidency, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called for a United Nations-led independent forensic investigation into the saga.
The association said the UN should uncover the remote and immediate circumstances that gave rise to the formation, advancement, sophistication and the sources of weapons of the Boko Haram terrorism in the North East of Nigeria.
HURIWA made this call in a statement on Sunday, signed jointly by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf.
The Rights Group said the suspicious circumstances of the emergence of these 82 hostages after the Nigerian government claimed that Sambisa Forests have been conquered and that the entire Sambisa Forests have been combed without any trace of either the hostages or Boko Haram terrorists speaks volume.
It therefore demands forensic investigation to determine where exactly these girls were hidden and who actually the hostage takers were.
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HURIWA said, “The recent claim of the release by so-called vanquished Boko Haram terrorists of 82 hitherto kidnapped Chibok school girls and the constant release from detentions of detained Boko haram terror suspects by the military authorities without the office of the Federal Attorney General subjecting them to criminal prosecution over the four year-long bombing campaigns that slaughtered over 30,000 innocent Nigerians are clear evidences that there are more to the whole Boko Haram scenarios than meets the eyes”.
The association said it was shocking that these female students of Chibok school reportedly kidnapped by armed Boko Haram over three years now were released about the same time the leader of the terrorists was reportedly injured by the air force during a counter insurgency combat mission.
“There are critical questions that an investigative panel must ask about the entire drama of the Boko haram terrorists.
“Nigerians must be told by an entirely independent and non-partisan panel of forensic Crime analysts the exact circumstances that led to the explosion of the Boko Haram terror campaign.
“We also need to be told how this Chibok girl who were hitherto married off and therefore couldn’t be seen in the Sambisa Forests now suddenly emerged after what is called a prisoners swap.
“Who are the Boko Haram terrorist’s freed in exchange for the 82 Chibok girls?
“There is the need to verify all these issues so as to disabuse the minds of most Nigerians who see these whole Boko Haram terror scenarios as political gambits by the North to scheme the Southern minorities out of the juicy office of the Presidency of Nigeria.
“We need to be able to arrive at knowledgeable findings on these Boko Haram terrorists so as to appropriately respond in the future should such unfortunate event reoccur” the statement added.
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